| Russia celebrated the centenary of Valery Chkalov Valery Chkalov, a great aviator and a man about whom legends were already formed during his lifetime, is perhaps the most unconventional of all the heroes of the Land of the Soviets. It was not difficult to fashion a figure that would amaze the people with its greatness from the tunneler Alexei Stakhanov or the tractor driver Pasha Angelina; to create an exemplary legend from the positive Yuri Gagarin or the division commander Chapaev was also simple. But Chkalov was absolutely not suitable for the role of an exemplary Soviet man. An anarchist by character, an officer without the slightest idea of discipline, dismissed from the army for hussarism and rowdyism - nevertheless, the whole country adored this brawler with the face of a movie hero more than all the Chelyuskinites and Papanins together. And it is possible that she adored him precisely because Chkalov did not fit into the job descriptions and standards of behavior of a Soviet person.
Discipline failed
Valery became a pilot in the early 20s, entering an aviation school. There, cadet Chkalov was considered exceptionally talented and was quickly promoted. A brilliant military career opened up before him: if he had served like everyone else, had not gotten into trouble and managed to avoid death in an air battle, then most likely by the end of the 40s the name of General (or even Air Marshal) Valery Pavlovich Chkalov would have stood next to multiple Heroes of the Soviet Union Pokryshkin and Kozhedub. But then the violent temper of the young fighter pilot took its toll: after several conflicts with his superiors - showing up at the airfield while drunk, violating flight instructions, etc. - Chkalov was expelled from the army. And they landed him after the pilot decided to fly under power lines and crashed the plane. By the way, by that time Chkalov was already flying under bridges, violating all flight rules and receiving for this the thrashings and guardhouses prescribed by the regulations. However, Chkalov spent only about a month in prison - the highest spheres of power stood up for the aviator. For some reason, the fame of the air hooligan touched the hearts of the country's leadership: it is believed that Stalin and Beria, in particular, were among the fans of the rowdy Chkalov's flying art.
Test record holder
Nevertheless, the pardoned pilot was not returned to the fighter regiment: fortunately for him, work was found in Soviet aviation for lovers of circus acts. In 1930, he became a test pilot at the Red Army Air Force Research Institute. The position of a tester has always been considered the most elite, but also extremely dangerous - especially in those years when the theory of aircraft construction was just being created and the parameters of new machines had to be adjusted actually at the airfield. Chkalov served as a regular test pilot until 1935, when the fashion for ultra-long-distance flight records began in the USSR. This was supposed to demonstrate to the whole world the growing power of domestic aviation.
On July 24, 1936, the hooligan pilot Chkalov received and used his chance, which made him an all-Union celebrity. He became the commander of a crew sent on an ultra-long flight Moscow - Spitsbergen - Franz Josef Land - Severnaya Zemlya - Tiksi - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - Sakhalin. In 56 hours 20 minutes, Chkalov, Baidukov and Belyakov, on the ANT-25 aircraft, specially created for such records, covered 9374 km and landed on Udd Island (now Chkalov Island). For this flight, the crew members were awarded a personal audience with Stalin and received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Here we must remember that in the late 30s this difference meant much more than it does now - there were only a few heroes then, and each of them was known throughout the country. And the next year Chkalov became a global superstar.
On June 18, 1937, the ANT-25 took off from a Moscow airfield to make the world's first transpolar flight. Today, Tu and Boeing flights from Russia to America via the Arctic are considered normal and even save time and fuel, but back then any flight over the Arctic Ocean was an extreme sport. Anti-icing systems had just been developed, flying through clouds was dangerous, and it was necessary to fly at high altitudes, where there was not enough oxygen, and the aircraft then were propeller-driven, no match for today's jet airliners. The 12,000-kilometer flight lasted 63 hours, and on June 20, Chkalov’s crew landed in the United States.
Myth Man
This was the finest hour of Chkalov, Baidukov and Belyakov. A triumphant meeting in America, a reception with President Roosevelt, a return to the USSR - for a change, not by air, but on an ocean-going steamer, popular rejoicing in Moscow... This would only happen again in 1961, after Gagarin’s flight, but by that time the legends of distant flights will give way to war heroes, nuclear physicists and cosmonauts, and Chkalov, Gromov, Levanevsky and other pilots of the 30s will become myths of past times.
After the transpolar record, Chkalov went back to testing. Soon the flight program would also be closed: records had been set, there was nothing more to do here. Chkalov himself soon died: in 1938 in Moscow, during testing of the new I-180 fighter designed by Polikarpov, he crashed somewhere in the area of the current Khoroshevskoye Highway. The death of the pilot immediately began to grow into legends, and now it is still difficult to separate truth from fiction. According to one version, the whole point was in the design flaws of the new “crude” aircraft; naturally, there is also a hypothesis that the beloved but uncontrollable hero-pilot was simply “removed”, setting up a disaster.
But even after the death of the pilot, his figure continued to enjoy not only popularity, but also obvious respect. It is curious that Chkalov is perhaps the only “icon” of Soviet propaganda about whom there were almost no such jokes as, for example, about Chapaev, Matrosov or Gastello. Perhaps the reverence for the pilot was too great, and his “icon”, despite all efforts, did not turn out to be a glossy picture. And this is all, mind you, despite the fact that in the official system of glorifying “Soviet saints” Chkalov stood next to the deified figures of the CPSU (b) and the heroes of the Civil War. So, for example, until the 50s, Orenburg bore the name of the pilot, and according to the unspoken table of posthumous ranks in the USSR, only the highest ranks of Soviet power, like Mikhail Kalinin or Sergei Kirov, were entitled to have “their” regional center. Let us note that even in the era of perestroika and the debunking of legends, Chkalov was almost not touched: for this there was too little Soviet in the image of the legendary pilot. In addition, Chkalov is one of the few heroes of the Soviet era who is still respected abroad. Perhaps, only he, of all Soviet aviators, will be included in any top-10 famous pilots, no matter in which country such a conditional rating is compiled. Vladimir DZAGUTO |
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